Since I’ve chosen speed to be the main topic and focus of my blog, I have been doing a lot of reading and research about this particular subject. I found out that speed falls under the category of technology, and its rapid progress forward is connected to how well technology improves. Although, the more we hear about new inventions and discoveries the more we adapt to new developments, and it all becomes part of our everyday lives. The world of speed being a huge part of that development, mostly because humanity is quickly moving forward, and we are always looking for ways to increase our performance. So when talking about speed and performance, I can’t help but to mention what’s new in the world of airplanes. I have a lot of enthusiasm for airplane’s innovations, since air traveling has become a major way to travel around the globe, not to mention its excessive use in modern warfare.

Today, I’m going to introduce to you the fastest airplane in the world. How do you feel when you find out that the U.S. military has a plane that can travel from London to Sydney in less than an hour? The Falcon HTV-2 is an airplane project currently being worked on by the US Defense Advance Research Projects Agency. According to guardian.co.uk, “By the time you finish reading this sentence, the Falcon HTV-2, the fastest plane ever built, could have flown 18 miles. It would get from London to Sydney in less than an hour, while withstanding temperatures of almost 2,000C, hotter than the melting point of steel.”

The Falcon first started life in 2003, part of a US military research project that focused on building a plane that could potentially deliver bombs to any part of the world in less than an hour. According to MNN.com, this unmanned military plane travels at 20 times the speed of sound and is capable of reaching speeds up to 13,000 (mph). According to MNN.com, the plane has been mounted on a rocket and launched twice from a California airbase, then comes streaking back to Earth at enormous speeds. Honestly, looking at this plane makes me feel like watching Star Wars all over again.

It’s very exciting to read about this plane, but it’s not very surprising. The U.S. spends more than a half trillion dollars on military every year, that’s more than Russia and China combined. Investing that much money into technology can lead into some spooky creations. Unfortunately, after several minutes of the Falcon’s both testing flights, the HTV-2 experienced some sort of anomaly, prompting the vehicle’s autonomous flight safety system to guide it to a controlled splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which oversaw the flight. Despite the problem, the aircraft did reach its top speed and was able to control its flight for several minutes.

Finally, this airplane is astonishing, and it makes it a hard contest for anyone to try and compete against the U.S. military. According to Popsci.com, “There’s a new arms race brewing, and this one is destined to be very, very fast. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin is calling for the development of a hypersonic long-range bomber to ensure Russia is not “falling behind the Americans.” He doesn’t want some subsonic or even supersonic analog to the American B-2, he says. Russia’s next bomber–slated for delivery by decade’s end–will move faster than Mach 5.” I can only hope that this technology won’t be used in warfare, other ways stuff like this will definitely lead into the end of humanity. Remember by the time you read this entire article, the Falcon HTV-2 could have flown half way across earth.